Democrats Finally Spar At WITF-TV Debate.

With Just Six Weeks Left ...
... before voters cast ballots in the May 18 primary, the four Democrats looking to succeed Gov. Ed Rendell tried to put some daylight between each other Wednesday.

In a televised debate that aired on Harrisburg public television station WITF-TV, candidates Anthony Williams, Dan Onorato, Joe Hoeffel and Jack Wagner exchanged pointed barbs over such seemingly dry issues as funding for public education and government reform. The debate was co-sponsored by the League of Women Voters of Pennsylvania.

The format of the debate - which saw the four candidates mostly each asking question of the other - seemed pre-programmed to create conflict in a contest in which polls show that most voters are paying scant attention.

The sniping came early when Williams, a state senator from Philadelphia, asked Onorato, the current Allegheny County executive, to join him in a pledge to not award state contracts to people who had donated $1,000 or more to their campaigns.

Onorato, who, at $6.7 million, has the largest war-chest of the spring campaign, told Williams that he'd support an end to no-bid contracts. But he said he was not sure if the state could bar contributors from participating in a competitive bidding process.

"Eight other states do it," Williams chided.

Onorato shot back, "If it's possible, I'd be happy to look at it."

But most of the heat in Wednesday's debate appeared reserved for the two candidates running at the back of the pack in most public polls.

Hoeffel, a Montgomery County commissioner, clashed with Williams over his support for school choice and contract reform.

Williams has $1.7 million in his campaign coffers, according to records made public Tuesday. And roughly $1 million of that comes from two political action committees that support school choice.

"I have promoted public education in its traditional forms," said Williams, who has served in the Senate since 1998, where he's cast ballots on scores of education-related bills. "But I've also supported home-schooling, online schools and charter schools. If you are of modest income in Pennsylvania,there's no reason you should be trapped by your zip code and have the monopoly of the school district dictate where your child goes to school."

Hoeffel told the debate’s moderator, WITF-TV anchor, Nell McCormack-Abom, that he supported improving the existing public education system through more rigorous academic standards and remedial services.

The former suburban Philadelphia congressman and state lawmaker said he opposed pulling money out of the public system by giving parents taxpayer-funded vouchers that they could use to send their children to the school of their choice.

"I'm afraid Sen. Williams, by allowing public money go to non-public schools, would shift money away from the public system," Hoeffel said. "He's supported by well-meaning billionaires who believe best way to to go is through survival of the fittest."

Wagner, the two-term state auditor general, chimed in that he'd supported both public and charter education while serving in the state Senate, but said the focus of any education program had to be on the needs of students.

"The real issue is that the kids are forgotten in the discussion and we don't talk about that enough," he said.

The oft-combative tone of the debate couldn't have come at a better time for the Democratic candidates, who are still struggling to distinguish themselves in the eyes of their own primary voters.

According to a Qunnipiac University poll released Wednesday, nearly half of Democratic primary voters (47 percent) said they still don't know enough about any of the four candidates to make a decision. And of those who prefer a candidate, seven in 10 said they'll probably change their minds before they vote in May.

"This has not yet caught the public's imagination," Quinnipiac pollster Peter Brown said in an interview earlier in the day on Wednesday.